Posts by Duane Plant

The personal and financial impact of a divorce is bad enough. It can be made much worse when you realise that divorce court judges see the world in a very different way to business owners and entrepreneurs. A divorce must not be allowed to damage the health of the family business where it needs to produce either future income or capital to meet the family’s needs. Judges can struggle to understand a family business owner Many divorce judges presume that business owners get up in the morning and go out to work and are guaranteed to make money. If only that were true! Family law judges often struggle to understand business risk, funding issues and the real liquidity of...

On separation and divorce would you spend thousands of pounds on a bet to gamble the future of your children or your financial settlement on the toss of a coin? That’s what you do in a divorce court. Why do separating and divorcing couples who are otherwise careful, cautious and conservative decide to spend so much money gambling on the outcome of their divorce settlement about money and property? How are you turned from being sensible into a reckless gambler? You think your offer is good. You think your spouse’s offer is wrong. You issue court proceedings and go to trial to let a judge decide. You may as well toss a coin since it is cheaper and quicker. And just...

“Nobody wins. One side just loses more slowly than the other”, wrote Dennis Lehane the writer of the highly regarded and successful hit US series The Wire. This is never more true than in the divorce court system when contested court proceedings are used to decide disputes over children or money. Perhaps only lawyers gain. Constructive divorce with dignity – not destructive court battle Yet it is the divorce lawyers who are dissatisfied with the court process who have created collaborative family law for separating and divorcing couples. Collaborative family law is for families who want to divorce with dignity and mutual respect. It is a constructive way of...

If you live in Cambridge then usually you would file a divorce petition in The Family Court at Bury St Edmunds at Triton House, St Andrews Street North, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 1TR. Most divorce petitions in the south east of England, including London are issued at Bury St Edmunds. The court staff are renowned for being approachable, knowledgeable and friendly. Whilst they are not allowed to give legal advice they can explain the procedural steps and provide free copies of court forms (tip: no need to pay for them online!) or Click Here to download them here for free. For example a divorce petition is called FormD8 and can be found here and downloaded by...

So what guidance is available to help divorcing parents or separated parents? Firstly provide lots of reassurance to your children telling them that you both love them and that this will not change. Judith Wallerstein child psychologist concluded that the most valuable gift a separated parent could give to their child was to give their blessing and approval to seeing and spending time with the other parent. So what other help is out there? Resolution website is an accurate and reliable internet divorce website. Resolution has created the material for fantastic information meetings for separated parents called Parenting After Parting and you can click on the link here to...